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Izod IndyCar Series veteran Tony Kanaan, one of three empowered by his peers to represent their interests and concerns with the series, said on Thursday that drivers had never threatened to and would never carry out a boycott of the June 9 race at Texas Motor Speedway, even with their concerns over the design of the fencing around the high-banked, high-speed 1.5-mile track.

It's Kanaan's belief that the series, because of its increasingly close working relationship with drivers since the death of Dan Wheldon, would not put them in what they felt was an unsafe working environment. Wheldon was killed during a 15-car crash sequence at the 2011 IndyCar finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which like its fellow Speedway Motorsports Inc. property in Texas has poles inside the wire mesh instead of outside, like most tracks.

A boycott "will never happen because we work so close with IndyCar, we will never do that to IndyCar,” Kanaan said. “It will be an IndyCar decision as well, so it wouldn't be a race.”

Speedway president Eddie Gossage has aggressively defended his track design, citing engineering studies that he has yet to allow the series or drivers to see despite requests, according to several drivers. Drivers seek the elimination of pack racing by the series with technical adjustments and an investigation of fencing.

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard responded with an e-mail to Autoweek: “We are committed to racing in Texas this June. We have a year-to-year contract with the track, so once our event is complete we will begin discussions with the track regarding its future on our schedule, as we do every season.”

While Kanaan also said drivers would race if the event remains, he seemed to suggest that a more immediate remedy could be possible.

Scott Dixon and Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti vaulted to the top of the combined speed charts in the IndyCar spring test at Sebring International Raceway on Thursday, impressive considering that they produced the best effort of the split-field preseason test in just one day.

Dixon led the morning test session and now the entire test with a best lap of 51.7932 seconds (116.077 mph), nearly a full second ahead of second-best Mike Conway (52.6101 seconds, 114.275 mph). Dixon's time was easily the fastest of the five practice sessions held this week--the field was split into two groups--even though he turned just 24 laps.

Franchitti set a top lap of 52.1401 seconds (115.305 mph) in the afternoon to take the second slot in combined testing, beating the best lap of 52.1413 seconds (115.302 mph) that Helio Castroneves took until the final session of his spring test on Tuesday to produce.

“Not too bad,” Dixon said. “[In] the morning we didn't get to run a lot to make some changes. The car was good out the box. It was pretty quick. We just went through the test program and tried not to just go for lap time. We didn't really have the lap time that we had in the afternoon that we had in the morning, so all and all it was pretty decent.”

Test drive

Ana Beatriz, who is currently without a deal for the 2012 season, turned 86 laps around the 1.67-mile course in an Andretti Autosport machine in an introductory session. She was nearly 5 mph off Dixon's pace.

“It was fun to drive the new car today,” she said. “It has a lot of grip and I'm still learning about it. I would be great to have another day of testing tomorrow.”

Beatriz drove the last two seasons for Dreyer & Reinbold.

Legge's work

Former Champ Car prospect and DTM driver Katherine Legge made her first 66 test laps of the preseason for Dragon Racing but was 25th out of 26 participants so far this preseason at 54.5918 seconds (110.126 mph). Teammate and four-time Champ Car champion Sébastien Bourdais will not test during spring training as the team has just one Lotus engine.

Alex Tagliani had a Lotus engine but only got four laps out of it in the afternoon session (38 all day) after a piece of carbon fiber somehow stuck in the throttle, he said.

Drivers with Lotus engines--Simona De Silvestro, 21st; Oriol Servia, 22nd; Tagliani, 24th; and Legge, 25th--have posted four of the lowest six times so far in spring testing.